Follow NCIS: Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles Review: All Good Indeed

"Kill House" was a standout episode for NCIS:LA season 4. Not only was there plenty of tension, it was one of the rare circumstances when the entire team worked together. It makes sense that they usually break into two units to investigate, so it was a special treat to see the foursome in action.

After a tactical team's mission was compromised and ambushed, NCIS was tasked to find out who was responsible for the intelligence leak. They quickly tracked the likely source to be from the military contractor responsible for training the tactical team prior to the mission. The boat house crew went undercover as a tactical team to train to complete the compromised mission.

This NCIS crew was not properly prepared for this hardcore, life threatening training, but they went in confident and with a bit of fear. Even though it was training, it was as real as it could be with modified bullets, dull knifes and full force punches. When the team entered the Kill House, it was very real.

The first mission was going well until the end when their mission goal became unclear. They found a laptop on the table, but there was also a woman being held hostage. What were they supposed to do? They went after the hostage and were "killed." They were set up to fail the training exercise. Being top notch investigators, they used this failure to their advantage.

The two main trainers, leader David Inman and Chad Parish, went after the team for their lack of teamwork. NCIS pushed back to try and determine which one of the trainers could have leaked the information. Parish was the only one married and had a kid on the way. That both worked in his favor and against him. And then there's Inman himself. Could the former military man have sold out his trainees?

On the next training exercise, NCIS got its big break when someone killed Parish. It gave them a reason to bring in Inman for questioning. And just when Granger had started to gain the trust of the team a little, he bust that with a huge lie. He was friendly with Inman! What?

Nell showed up at the crime scene to analyze the cameras there and see if there was any proof that Parish was murdered. The rest of the team left her to work and they continued to investigate. After their training, why would they leave Nell alone? She's at a crime scene where a military professional may have killed his teammate. She should have had a partner with her. Safety! This took away from the otherwise well done episode.

Inman kidnapped Nell. The team had to go into the Kill House once again and this time for real, with live ammo and weapons. Their approach was quiet. They made their way to Nell who was being held by Inman. She trusted her team, grabbed the magazine from the gun, ducked and her teammates took Inman out. It was brilliantly executed. A sign of a well-synced team.

Case closed.

Eric and Nell's reunion after she was rescued was touching. They do work well together. The idea of Nell becoming a field agent is both exciting and saddening. She could follow in Hetty's footsteps of a huge presence in a small package, but her ability to analyze data and help the team would be sorely missed. Plus, she would be leaving her banter buddy, Eric, behind.

"Kill House" was a nice return to an action packed hour. There were military maneuvers, guns fired, knives thrown and Deeks' incredible take down of the red vest in the restaurant.

Should Nell get out into the field more often or permanently? Was it believable that Nell would have been left alone at the crime scene? Can the team ever trust Granger?